Chances are good, though, that the New Mexico band’s members didn’t then realize their own lives would be changed when James Mercer, The Shins' leader and creative mastermind, unceremoniously ousted them from the band.

Drummer Jesse Sandoval and keyboardist Marty Crandall were fired after the Shins’ 2007 tour. Bassist Dave Hernandez was shown the door sometime before the advent of the band’s fourth and newest album, “Port of Morrow.” Mercer, who is also a part of the group Broken Bells, described the lineup changes as “basically an aesthetic decision.” Sandoval countered that he was fired.

Of course, The Shins — who perform tonight, Sunday, Sept. 30 at SDSU’s Open Air Theatre — are hardly the first band to be rocked and roiled by power struggles and a dominant member calling the shots. The band’s performance in April at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio found Mercer and the latest Shins’ lineup skillfully performing melancholy-drenched songs of longing and heartache, qlong with a near note-perfect version of Pink Floyd’s “Breathe."

How much it matters that Mercer is now the only original Shin still on board is for you to decide. But for the group’s former members, his song “Bait and Switch” must surely take on added meaning.